The present invention is concerned with an improved antiinflammatory composition and method of treating inflammation which employs a non-steroidal antiinflammatory agent such as piroxicam, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof (particularly the ethanolamine salt of piroxicam), in combination with inositol. The generic names used here and elsewhere herein are from the USAN and the USP Dictionary of Drug Names, 1961-1981, Griffiths et al., ed., U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention Inc., Rockville, Md., 1984, have subsequently been assigned and published as official USAN names, and/or appear in The Merck Index 10th Edition.
Gastrointestinal irritation, including ulcers, is a side effect commonly associated, to one degree or another, with antiinflammatory agents. In many cases, individuals requiring such antiinflammatory treatment are precluded from enjoying the benefits thereof because of their susceptibility to such side effects. The present combination of a non-steroidal antiinflammatory agent with inositol permits desirable antiinflammatory therapy while preventing or ameliorating said gastrointestinal irritation or ulcers.
Inositol is an optically inactive, meso compound systematically named cis-1,2,3,4-trans-4,6-cyclohexanehexol, also called meso-inositol or bios I (see The Merck Index 10th Ed., abstract no. 4861). It has long been known as a growth factor for micoorganisms (see, for example, Fieser and Fieser, "Organic Chemistry", Heath and Co., Boston, 1944, pp. 654-5). However, there are no known reports bearing on the use of inositol to reduce gastric side effects of nonstereoidal antiinflammatory agents or to reduce the frequency of ulcers in any circumstances.